What the Record-Breaking Numbers Mean for Businesses and Government Agencies in 2026

Published: February 2026  |  Author: Dale Erling 15+ years Experience  |  Reading time: ~8 min

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

▶  Record Volume:  The ACH Network processed 35.2 billion payments worth $93 trillion in 2025—up 4.9% in volume and 7.9% in value over 2024, marking the 13th consecutive year of trillion-dollar-plus value growth.

▶  Same-Day ACH Surging:  Same-Day ACH transactions grew 16.7% to 1.4 billion payments valued at $3.9 trillion, with December 2025 setting the all-time monthly record at 172.1 million same-day payments.

▶  B2B Leading the Shift:  B2B ACH volume exceeded 8.1 billion transactions (+9.9% YoY), representing $63 trillion in value. Paper checks now account for only 26% of outgoing and 25% of incoming B2B payments, according to the 2025 AFP Digital Payments Survey.

▶  Healthcare Momentum:  ACH healthcare claim payments reached 548 million (+7.3%), with nearly $3 trillion flowing to providers, hospitals, and pharmacies as insurers accelerate the move from paper.

▶  Open Banking Tailwinds:  Pay-by-Bank adoption is creating new consumer on-ramps to the ACH network. The global open banking market is projected to grow from $25.9 billion (2025) to $59.8 billion by 2031.

▶  New Compliance Deadlines:  Nacha’s 2026 fraud-monitoring rules take effect March 20 (Phase 1) and June 19 (Phase 2), requiring all ACH participants to implement risk-based processes for identifying fraudulent entries.

▶  Bottom Line:  Organizations that accept or send payments should evaluate their ACH strategy now—migrating from checks, enabling Same-Day ACH options, and ensuring compliance with the new Nacha standards before the mid-year deadline.

The Automated Clearing House (ACH) network just finished its strongest year on record. According to Nacha’s January 2026 report, the ACH Network processed 35.2 billion payments valued at $93 trillion in 2025. That represents a 4.9% increase in transaction volume and a 7.9% jump in total dollar value over 2024, making it the 13th consecutive year that ACH value grew by more than $1 trillion.

For businesses, government agencies, healthcare providers, and organizations that depend on electronic payments every day, these numbers signal a fundamental shift in how money moves in the United States with very real practical implications for payment strategy, cost management, and compliance planning in 2026 and beyond.

This article breaks down the data behind the growth, identifies the five forces driving adoption, explains what new Nacha rules mean for your organization, and offers a practical framework for putting ACH at the center of a modern, cost-effective payment strategy.

The 2025 ACH Scorecard: Record Volumes Across Every Segment

Before diving into the drivers, it helps to see the full picture. The table below summarizes the key metrics released by Nacha in late January 2026.

Source: Nacha, January 2026. All figures represent full-year 2025 unless noted.

Two data points stand out. First, B2B payments continue to be the fastest-growing major segment at nearly 10% annual volume growth, reflecting the ongoing corporate migration away from paper checks. Second, Same-Day ACH is expanding at more than triple the rate of the overall network, signaling that speed expectations are quickly becoming the norm rather than the exception.

Five Forces Driving ACH Adoption in 2025–2026

1. The Accelerating Decline of Paper Checks in B2B

The Association for Financial Professionals reported in 2025 that paper checks now account for just 25% of B2B payment volume, down from the majority share they held less than a decade ago. Meanwhile, ACH B2B transactions exceeded 8 billion and represented $63 trillion in value last year.

This transition is not slowing down. Checks rare more expensive to issue, mail, and reconcile than digital alternatives. They are also more vulnerable to fraud. The FBI and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network have both flagged check fraud as a growing threat, with stolen and altered checks accounting for billions in losses annually. For organizations still writing or receiving checks, the economic case for moving to ACH has never been clearer

2. Same-Day ACH Becomes the Default Speed

Same-Day ACH volume grew 16.7% in 2025, reaching 1.4 billion payments worth $3.9 trillion. In December alone, the network processed 172.1 million same-day transactions—the highest monthly total ever recorded. Same-Day ACH now averages 5.8 million payments per day across the network, and that figure climbed to 7.8 million per day in December.

The use cases are diverse: account-to-account transfers between financial institutions, digital wallet loads from bank accounts, credit card bill payments where issuers want to collect funds quickly, and B2B vendor payments where speed matters for cash management. With three daily processing windows (10:30 a.m., 2:45 p.m., and 4:45 p.m. ET), Same-Day ACH offers a practical middle ground between traditional next-day settlement and the instant-but-costlier real-time payment rails like FedNow and RTP.

For businesses, the growing expectation of same-day settlement means payment platforms need to support flexible ACH timing options—standard, next-day, and same-day—so treasury teams can match speed to the urgency and risk profile of each payment.

3. Consumer Online Payments Continue to Climb

Consumer-initiated ACH payments reached 11.4 billion in 2025, up 6% year over year. These payments cover the recurring obligations that define most consumers’ financial lives: mortgages, auto loans, insurance premiums, utilities, student loans, and credit card bills. In essence, any payment that looks like a bill is a natural candidate for ACH.

What many consumers do not realize is that popular alternative payment methods also rely on ACH behind the scenes. When a user loads funds into a digital wallet from a bank account, that transaction typically moves over ACH rails. When a credit card bill is paid from a checking account, ACH processes it. As digital payment adoption grows, ACH volume grows with it—often invisibly.

The Federal Reserve’s 2025 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice found that U.S. consumers make an average of six ACH payments per month, alongside 17 credit card and 14 debit card payments. While ACH trails cards in per-transaction frequency, the dollar value per ACH payment is substantially higher, reflecting its role in large, recurring obligations.

4. Pay-by-Bank and Open Banking Create New On-Ramps

Open Banking—often marketed to consumers as “Pay by Bank”—is creating a new front door to the ACH network. This approach lets consumers authorize payments directly from their bank accounts through secure APIs, without manually entering routing and account numbers. The consumer authenticates through their bank’s own app or portal, and the merchant initiates an ACH transaction on the back end.

Major retailers like Walmart have already launched Pay-by-Bank options through their apps, and Visa acquired open banking firm Tink to develop its own U.S. Pay-by-Bank solution. Mastercard is partnering with multiple payment companies to enable the same capability. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global open banking market is projected to grow from $25.9 billion in 2025 to $59.8 billion by 2031, at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 15%.

For younger consumers who have never written a check and may not know how to locate a routing number, Pay-by-Bank provides a seamless digital path to ACH enrollment. Nacha’s Michael Herd has pointed out that people in their twenties are increasingly linking their bank accounts through Open Banking sessions to enroll in payroll direct deposit and bill payments—processes that previously required manual entry of account details.

5. Healthcare Claims: A Fast-Growing Vertical for ACH

Healthcare claim payments reached 548 million transactions in 2025, a 7.3% increase over the prior year, with nearly $3 trillion flowing directly to medical providers, hospitals, dental offices, and pharmacies. This segment has been growing steadily as insurers and payers move away from paper explanation-of-benefits checks.

For healthcare providers from large hospital systems down to individual dental practices receiving claim payments via ACH means faster access to funds, lower administrative costs, and simpler reconciliation. As Nacha president Jane Larimer stated in the 2025 results announcement, businesses of every size are “turning their backs on checks,” and healthcare is a prime example of this industry-wide shift.

New Nacha Rules Taking Effect in 2026: What You Need to Know

Growth and security go hand in hand. Nacha has introduced phased rule changes in 2026 designed to strengthen fraud monitoring and risk management across the ACH ecosystem. These rules directly affect both originating and receiving depository financial institutions and, by extension, the businesses and organizations that depend on them.

Phase 1: March 20, 2026

Originating depository financial institutions (ODFIs) and non-consumer originators must implement risk-based processes and procedures designed to identify ACH entries initiated due to fraud. The previous “commercially reasonable” standard has been replaced with a more specific requirement for processes “reasonably intended to identify” fraudulent transactions. Receiving depository financial institutions (RDFIs) with annual ACH receipt volume of 10 million or greater (based on 2023 data) must also establish credit-monitoring processes.

Phase 2: June 19, 2026

The volume threshold for RDFIs is eliminated, meaning all receiving institutions must have fraud-monitoring processes in place. Additional requirements for credit monitoring will also take effect.

These rules also introduce the concept of “false pretenses” into the ACH framework—defined as inducing a payment through misrepresentation of identity, authority, or account ownership. Organizations should review their procedures now and coordinate across operations, compliance, and customer-facing teams to ensure they meet the new standards before the deadlines.

What This Means for Your Organization in 2026

The convergence of record ACH volumes, new regulatory requirements, and evolving consumer expectations creates both opportunity and urgency. Here is how different types of organizations should be thinking about ACH strategy this year.

For B2B Companies and Enterprises

If your accounts payable or accounts receivable processes still rely on paper checks for a significant share of transactions, 2026 is the year to accelerate the shift. With B2B ACH volume growing at 10% annually and check volumes declining, delaying the transition means falling further behind industry norms—and absorbing unnecessary costs in postage, manual processing, and fraud risk.

For Government Agencies and Municipalities

Federal government ACH volume grew just 1% in 2025, suggesting that most federal payment flows have already been digitized. The bigger opportunity is at the state and local level, where many agencies still accept payments by check or money order for taxes, fees, fines, and utility bills. Offering ACH alongside card payments—with a lower-cost option clearly presented to the payer—can increase electronic adoption, reduce processing backlogs, and improve constituent satisfaction.

For Healthcare Providers

Providers who are not yet set up to receive electronic payments should make it a priority. On the patient payment side, offering ACH as a payment option for balances, co-pays, and payment plans can lower collection costs and reduce the reliance on high-interchange card transactions.

For Any Organization Accepting Payments

The continued growth of ACH underscores the importance of offering multiple payment methods. Consumers and businesses increasingly expect to choose how they pay. A modern payment platform should support cards, ACH, and digital wallets across in-person, online, and mobile channels—with transparent pricing that lets the payer make an informed choice.

How IntelliPay Supports Organizations Navigating the ACH Landscape

Since 2004, IntelliPay has provided PCI DSS Level 1-certified payment processing for businesses, government agencies, healthcare providers, and organizations across the United States. Our cloud-based platform supports card, ACH, and digital wallet payments across in-person, online, mobile, and IVR channels—all managed from a single dashboard.

Several IntelliPay capabilities are particularly relevant in the context of ACH’s continued growth:

Dual Pricing and Consumer Choice. IntelliPay’s dual pricing model displays a Cash/ACH price alongside a card price before the payer clicks “Pay Now.” This transparent approach gives consumers and businesses the ability to choose ACH—and save—while keeping card acceptance available for those who prefer it. Organizations benefit from lower net processing costs on ACH transactions.

Flexible Fee-Based Models. In addition to dual pricing, IntelliPay supports surcharging, service fees, and convenience fee programs. These options can reduce or eliminate net card processing costs on eligible transactions, making it easier for organizations to absorb the growth in electronic payment volume without proportional increases in processing expense.

Unified Reporting and Reconciliation. As ACH volume grows, so does the operational burden of tracking and reconciling payments across channels. IntelliPay consolidates card, ACH, and digital wallet transaction data into a single reporting interface with drill-down detail, role-based access controls, and audit-ready records.

Compliance-Ready Infrastructure. IntelliPay’s platform includes end-to-end tokenization, encryption, and built-in fraud prevention. As Nacha’s 2026 rules raise the bar for transaction monitoring, working with a processor that maintains Level 1 PCI DSS certification and supports robust risk controls helps ensure that your organization stays compliant.

Seamless Integration. IntelliPay connects to existing front-end and back-end systems through APIs, prebuilt plugins for platforms like QuickBooks and WooCommerce, and customized integrations for government and enterprise environments. This means adding or enhancing ACH acceptance does not require replacing your existing infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions: ACH Payments in 2026

Q:  How much did ACH payment volume grow in 2025?

The ACH Network processed 35.2 billion payments in 2025, a 4.9% increase over 2024. The total value of those payments reached $93 trillion, up 7.9%. This marked the 13th straight year that ACH value grew by at least $1 trillion. December 2025 set the all-time monthly record with 3.22 billion payments.

Q:  What is Same-Day ACH, and how fast is it growing?

Same-Day ACH allows electronic payments to be processed and settled on the same business day through three daily windows (10:30 a.m., 2:45 p.m., and 4:45 p.m. ET). In 2025, Same-Day ACH volume grew 16.7% to 1.4 billion payments valued at $3.9 trillion. It averaged 5.8 million transactions per day, and 7.8 million per day in December. Same-Day ACH is particularly popular for account-to-account transfers, digital wallet funding, credit card bill payments, and time-sensitive B2B vendor payments.

Q:  Why are businesses switching from checks to ACH?

Three primary factors are driving the shift. First, cost: ACH transactions are significantly cheaper to process than paper checks, which involve printing, postage, manual handling, and reconciliation labor. Second, speed: standard ACH settles in one to two business days, and Same-Day ACH settles within hours—far faster than mailing a check. Third, security: the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey found that 63% of organizations experienced check fraud in 2024, making checks the payment method most targeted by criminals. ACH transactions are digital, automated, and governed by Nacha’s security rules, reducing exposure to mail theft and alteration.

Q:  What percentage of B2B payments are still made by check?

According to the 2025 AFP Digital Payments Survey, checks now account for just 26% of outgoing B2B payments and 25% of incoming B2B payments. That is a dramatic decline from 81% in 2004 and 33% in 2022. The remaining check volume represents a significant opportunity for organizations to reduce costs and fraud risk by migrating to ACH.

Q:  What is Pay-by-Bank, and how does it relate to ACH?

Pay-by-Bank (also called Open Banking payments) lets consumers pay directly from their bank accounts through a secure, API-driven authentication flow—typically through their bank’s own app or web portal. On the back end, the transaction usually settles over ACH rails. Pay-by-Bank removes the friction of manually entering routing and account numbers, making ACH accessible to consumers who may never have written a check. Major retailers including Walmart now offer this option, and both Visa and Mastercard have invested in open banking infrastructure to support it.

Q:  What new Nacha rules are taking effect in 2026?

Nacha has introduced phased fraud-monitoring rules in 2026. Phase 1, effective March 20, 2026, requires ODFIs and non-consumer originators to implement risk-based processes to identify fraudulent ACH entries. RDFIs with 10 million or more annual ACH receipts must also establish credit-monitoring processes. Phase 2, effective June 19, 2026, eliminates the volume threshold, extending the requirements to all RDFIs. The rules replace the previous “commercially reasonable” standard with a requirement for processes “reasonably intended to identify” fraud, and they introduce the concept of “false pretenses” as a defined term.

Q:  How does ACH compare to real-time payment systems like FedNow and RTP?

ACH, FedNow, and The Clearing House’s RTP network all enable electronic bank-to-bank transfers, but they differ in speed, cost, and use case. ACH processes payments in batches (standard: one to two days; same-day: within hours) at very low cost, making it ideal for recurring payments, payroll, B2B invoices, and high-volume transactions. FedNow and RTP settle in seconds but come with higher per-transaction fees and lower per-payment limits. ACH handles roughly 90% of all noncash payment value in the United States, while real-time payment volumes remain a small fraction of that total. Most organizations benefit from offering both ACH and real-time options, choosing the rail that matches each transaction’s speed and cost requirements.

Q:  Is ACH safe for high-value payments?

Yes. The ACH Network is governed by Nacha’s rules, which mandate security standards including account validation, fraud monitoring, and defined return procedures. Same-Day ACH supports payments up to $1 million per transaction. For standard ACH, there is no per-payment dollar limit. Additionally, Nacha’s 2026 rule updates are specifically designed to strengthen fraud detection and risk management across the entire network. When paired with a PCI DSS Level 1-certified processor like IntelliPay that provides tokenization, encryption, and built-in fraud prevention, ACH is a safe and reliable channel for high-value transactions.

Q:  How can my organization start accepting ACH payments?

To accept ACH payments, you need a payment processor that supports ACH alongside other payment methods. With a platform like IntelliPay, setup typically involves configuring your merchant account for ACH acceptance, integrating the payment form or terminal with your existing systems (online, in-person, or both), and collecting payer authorization. IntelliPay’s team handles compliance requirements and can help you choose the right fee model—whether traditional processing, dual pricing, surcharging, or convenience fees—to optimize costs.

Q:  What does dual pricing have to do with ACH?

Dual pricing displays two prices to the payer before checkout: a Cash/ACH price and a Card price (which includes a processing fee). This transparent approach lets payers choose the option they prefer. Because ACH transactions cost significantly less to process than credit card transactions, organizations that implement dual pricing can incentivize more payers to choose ACH—lowering their blended cost of payment acceptance. IntelliPay’s dual pricing model is compliant with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express rules and meets applicable state disclosure requirements.

Ready to Optimize Your Payment Strategy?

Whether you need to add ACH acceptance, implement dual pricing, or consolidate payment management across locations, IntelliPay’s team can help you build a solution tailored to your organization.

Contact us at intellipay.com or call 855-872-6632  to speak with a payment consultant.

Disclosure: IntelliPay (Convenient Payments LLC) is a PCI DSS Level 1-certified payment processor and registered ISO/MSP of Citizens Bank, Providence, RI, and Synovus Bank, Columbus, GA. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Organizations should consult qualified professionals regarding compliance with Nacha rules and applicable regulations.